Filmmaker and father of a 3-yr-old dies after fatal electric shock in South Delhi

It could have been anyone. It could even have been you. On Saturday afternoon, however, it was 33-year-old Anand Bhaskar Morla that indifferent Delhi devoured.

The documentary filmmaker and father of a three-year-old son was electrocuted by the high-voltage current being sucked in by an air-conditioner perched atop an iron railing outside a jeweller's shop in South Delhi's posh Sri Aurobindo Market.

Given that the shopowner's AC was fed by exposed wires wound around the railing, that the paramedics in an ambulance hailed by witnesses did nothing at all to resuscitate Morla, and that the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (South) - whose job is to make sure something like this never happens - did not even know of the tragedy a whole day after it had happened, the snuffing out of this promising life could well be called callous-blooded murder.

The waterlogged roads and traffic jams of Saturday played willing accomplice, turning the five-minute dash to Safdarjung Hospital Emergency into half an hour of murderous crawling.

"I'll be there in five minutes," Morla had answered his wife Supriya's call. It was about 12.45 pm, and Morla and his wife's aged grandmother had been gone some time from their Tata Nano in the parking lot of Sri Aurobindo Market. Morla and his grandmother-in-law had stepped out to the local Bank of India branch.The AC perched atop an iron railing outside a jeweller's shop in Sri Aurobindo Market."It was raining heavily, so I waited with my three-year-old son in the car," a broken Supriya said. "I saw them both approach. I only heard the back door open as I was preoccupied with my son. The next thing I knew my grandmother was screaming," Supriya added. She turned and saw her grandmother pointing at the ground and shouting. "I thought it was a snake and was scared to get down. It was only when passersby rushed in and lifted a person from the ground that I realised it was Anand," she said.Killer railing

Supriya had parked the car with the killer railing on her side. Morla received a fatal electric shock from the wires of the AC that were loosely wrapped around the railing at the entrance to the market when he opened the door on Supriya's side for his grandmother-in-law to get in the car. Supriya believes that the water on the ground and the car door conducted the current that the railing was alive with. "Even when my grandmother tried to help him but she got a shock. Everyone, including the guard, who tried to help Anand received minor shocks," she said.Morla with his wife and son in an old picture.Supriya and her family's ordeal did not end there. Even though she found an ambulance on time to rush Morla to the hospital, it was the delay in attending to her husband that made matter worse. In the traffic chaos unleashed by Saturday's heavy rains, Supriya lost the ambulance that had been flagged down by passersby. "When I reached Safdarjung Hospital 25 minutes later we found the ambulance parked outside the hospital and my husband still inside it," said Supriya.

Time wasted

"Precious minutes were wasted and when the doctors finally attended to him they presented a grim picture," Supriya added. "Even at the hospital I kept looking for someone to help me. No one came forward," she said.

Morla's life held the breath of promise at every step.

After losing his father at a very young age, Morla spent a good number of years with his grandmother at the ashram. He studied at Mother's International School and later completed a film-making course from Conservatoire Libre du Cinema Francais, Paris. He had executed projects for Indiafixer.com, BBC and Fixer at Gedeon Programmes, Paris, France.

The police have registered a case of negligence. "The investigations are open-ended at present. Whoever's name crops up during investigations will be questioned," said a senior police officer.

Constable electrocuted

Heavy rains and water-logging in the Capital claimed a policeman's life on Tuesday.

Jaipal Deswal, a constable posted with the north-west district police, died of electrocution when he accidentally stepped inside apool of water that had flow of current. The incident happened in front of the office of Northwest district DCP.

"There was a live wire near the office due to which current could flow inside the pool of water. The civic authorities were alerted to take care of the situation after the constable's death," a police officer said. The constable was returning home after finishing his duty when the incident took place.